How to manage your team without mistakes: 8 tips from the CMO

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Surround yourself with professionals, build relationships with your boss, and don't forget to say thank you.

For 24 years of managing various teams in advertising agencies and financial organizations, I have developed a number of rules for myself that should not be violated. These rules were paid for by my nerves, the nerves of my colleagues and, of course, the mistakes I made.

1. Always say thank you

“It's trivial,” you might say, but in your daily routine (chatting and mailing, communicating on the phone, and so on), tasks are closed, results are achieved, and obstacles are overcome. You will not lose anything, so say thank you to your colleagues. This is not even a praise, but a way to recognize a person's contribution to a common cause. Namely, recognition is something that we all often lack very much. Recognize even the most insignificant achievements of your team's specialists.

2. Realize that the employee does not owe you anything personally

It's best to always keep in mind that employees think of work as “Work to Live” rather than “Live to Work,” even if they tell you otherwise. Indeed, in the relationship "employee - employer" everything is simple: the employer generates a task that needs to be done for money, and the employee invests his skills and efforts to solve it.

Remember that your employee does not owe you anything personally, he is just doing his job. Building relationships with him according to the principle "You have to, because it is written in the job description" is the way to nowhere. It is better to get the person interested in the task that is suitable for him and build partnerships.

3. Prevent burnout

You hire a specialist not only for his skills and competencies, but also for the energy that he exudes and is ready to put into work. This energy energizes the rest and, of course, contributes to the solution of the task at hand. As long as there is energy, there is a result. No energy - burnout begins. By the way, the burnout syndrome was recently included by the World Health Organization into the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), in the category "Factors affecting the state of public health and referrals to healthcare institutions." Try to encourage your people to rest regularly. It is necessary for them, for you and for the result.

Here are some of the things my team has adopted to reduce the risk of burnout.

1. Introduce one day a week to your schedule for offloading - no meetings or appointments so you can focus on your core tasks. If you share your calendar with coworkers, fill in the “appointments” boxes in it to make it look like your whole day has already been scheduled.
2. Take breaks from work - 10-15 minutes several times a day. A horizontal bar, a walk near the house, a book or even an Instagram feed will help you.
3. Try to think positively. Think of your job as important to you and your family, doing meaningful things, and going on a pleasant trip next weekend - anything that makes you feel better.

4. Participate in conflict resolution

As we know, from the point of view of consequences, conflicts are divided into productive and destructive: those that contribute to the effective solution of the problem and the favorable development of relations in the team, and those that hinder this. Sometimes it is difficult to immediately assess what kind of conflict is happening.

The rule is simple - contribute to the resolution of conflicts, do not sit on the sidelines. You are a leader, and your task is to solve conflict situations. We are talking about both professional conflicts and personal ones, because in the workplace there is often practically no line between them.

The climate in your team is one of the most important indicators that you, as a leader, must monitor.

5. Don't be afraid to part with people

In my practice, more than once there were cases when, for one reason or another, the best specialist (even a friend) in the team became toxic for the team and the business as a whole. The reasons can be different: personal conflict, burnout, family problems … Maybe you yourself are to blame, but this is not at all important. What matters are the tasks that you face and the resources that you have to accomplish these tasks. And if something interferes with the common cause, cut it off.

This is emotionally difficult (at least for me), but the sooner you do it, the better it will be for everyone.

At the same time, remember the main thing - it is always important to remain human. No matter how bad your relationship with the employee is at the time of separation, overpower yourself and initiate an exit interview. Unlike an interview, in such a conversation you no longer act as an employer, but as an equal colleague. Ask the departing employee general questions: "What did you like about the job and what annoyed you?" The world is small, so part on a good note and promise to make recommendations without the unsightly details of your interactions. Always remember about your reputation, it will come in handy for future projects.

6. Appreciate excellence

I often come across the fact that managers are afraid of the high professionalism of their subordinates, perhaps they are afraid that they will be "hijacked" or replaced. But there were also such cases in my practice when a leader surrounds himself with specialists who are more experienced and more professional than him, each in his own field. I believe that this approach is precisely the secret of success.

As a leader, you simply do not have the right to allow situations where you are better than your employees in everything. This is probably good for your self-esteem, but it also hurts the cause. You are a manager, and your task is to gather people around you who will help the company achieve high results.

And of course, it is necessary to exclude situations when the leader has to scatter himself on tasks that are not relevant to his position. The job of a leader is to lead.

7. Build relationships with senior management

This is necessary not so much for your own well-being in the company, but for your team. There is a small but extremely useful book "One Minute Manager and the Monkeys" by Kenneth Blanchard. In it, the author identifies three categories of time: "Time imposed by the authorities", "Time imposed by the system" (interaction with lawyers, accounting, other departments not directly related to your work) and "Own time". The main category, as you know, is your own time. And it is important that you have enough of it to complete the tasks.

If we talk about the time imposed by the bosses, then on your own initiative you need to spend literally 5-10 minutes a day on interim reports and statuses, supplying your boss with the necessary information and confidence that everything is under control.

Otherwise, at the end of the week, the boss will schedule a reporting meeting for an hour and a half, also seasoned with negative emotions. Which will not be surprising at all, because you have not kept him informed of the tasks for a whole week, and now he expects to fail on your part.

With time, trust and greater authority will come. And the trust of the management will allow you to work more efficiently in terms of team motivation, deadlines and end results. For example, you and your team will be able to make many decisions on your own, without wasting time on coordination with senior management.

8. Strike a balance between perfectionism and carelessness

Hello, my name is Vladimir and I am a perfectionist. However, at the age of 42, I managed to learn how to do something for the "four". Sometimes a task can be completed even with a "three" and at the same time get the desired result - when speed is much more important than quality, for example.

All the people on your team cannot be perfectionists, which is great. The team is effective precisely because all of its members are different: someone is not very disciplined, but his ideas are often “fired”, and someone is hyperresponsible and follows not only their own tasks, but also the projects of their colleagues. Try to maintain a balance of "perfectionism - carelessness" in the team.

These rules help my team to work smoothly and efficiently, and I do not wake up with the thought “I don’t want to go to work”. While adhering to all of these principles can be difficult in practice, it is well worth the effort. These rules work great during a pandemic and help my team not to lose heart.